Mortgage Application Volume Ticks Up In Latest Survey

March 29, 2006

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending March 24 found that the Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 571.7, an increase of 1.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 565.0 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 1.0 percent compared with the previous week but was down 15.0 percent compared with the same week one year earlier. 

The seasonally-adjusted Purchase Index increased by 2.7 percent to 404.1 from 393.6 the previous week whereas the Refinance Index decreased by 1.0 percent to 1558.4 from 1574.5 one week earlier. Other seasonally adjusted index activity includes the Conventional Index, which increased 1.1 percent to 842.4 from 833.4 the previous week, and the Government Index, which increased 2.6 percent to 120.5 from 117.4 the previous week.

The four week moving average for the seasonally-adjusted Market Index is down 0.3 percent to 570.0 from 574.0. The four week moving average is down 0.5 percent to 397.3 from 401.5 for the Purchase Index while this average is unchanged at 1588.8 for the Refinance Index.

The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 37.3 percent of total applications from 38.1 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 28.7 percent of total applications from 28.3 percent the previous week. 

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 6.36 percent from 6.31 percent, with points decreasing to 1.02 from 1.13 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. 

The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 6.00 percent from 5.99 percent, with points increasing to 1.12 from 1.09 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. 

The average contract interest rate for one-year ARMs increased to 5.83 percent from 5.68 percent, with points increasing to 0.88 from 0.86 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. 

Source: MBA


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